Day: July 28, 2024

Navajo Unit operations update July 28, 2024 #SanJuanRiver #ColoradoRiver #aridification

From email from Reclamation (Susan Novak Behery):

July 26, 2024

Reclamation will be fulfilling a request to release the first block of the Jicarilla Apache Nation (JAN) subcontracted water that has been leased to the New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission (NMISC) and The Nature Conservancy (TNC) for calendar year 2024.

The subcontracted water released from the Navajo Unit will augment the current release of 700 cfs by 250 cfs (for a total of 10 days) and 500 cfs (for a total of 5 days) as requested by the NMISC and TNC. The table below shows the release schedule. Any changes to this schedule will be sent out in subsequent notices. The total volume of JAN subcontracted water for this release is 10,000 acre-feet. An additional 10,000 acre-feet will be released later this calendar year with the same augmentation pattern.

Date Day4:00 AM Release (cfs)
7/31/2024Wed950
8/1/2024Thu950
8/2/2024Fri950
8/3/2024Sat950
8/4/2024Sun950
8/5/2024Mon1200
8/6/2024Tue1200
8/7/2024Wed1200
8/8/2024Thu1200
8/9/2024Fri1200
8/10/2024Sat950
8/11/2024Sun950
8/12/2024Mon950
8/13/2024Tue950
8/14/2024Wed950

Following this operation, the release will return to 700 cfs, or whatever is required to maintain the target baseflow through the endangered fish critical habitat reach of the San Juan River (Farmington to Lake Powell).  The San Juan River Basin Recovery Implementation Program recommends a target base flow of between 500 cfs and 1,000 cfs through the critical habitat area.  The target base flow is calculated as the weekly average of gaged flows throughout the critical habitat area from Farmington to Lake Powell.